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<title>The First Meeting by NinjaUkulele</title>
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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28826979">The First Meeting</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/NinjaUkulele/pseuds/NinjaUkulele'>NinjaUkulele</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Persona 5</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Other, Real thieves au, kind of, might actually make something out of this</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-01-18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-01-18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 12:34:39</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>565</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28826979</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/NinjaUkulele/pseuds/NinjaUkulele</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>He was sloppy. He was unprepared. He got caught.</p>
<p>At least he wasn't going to die alone.</p>
<p>(Secret Snipers exchange!)</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Secret Snipers Exchange 2020</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>The First Meeting</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">
      <li>For <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kitty_Sama/gifts">Kitty_Sama</a>.</li>



    </ul></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>He had been caught trying to steal from the king, getting thrown into a cell deep underground for his troubles.</p>
<p>Another prisoner was in the back of the cell, a boy with bright blond hair. They sat in silence for a few minutes before the blond spoke up, “...So what’d you do?”</p>
<p>He was hesitant to answer, but he likely wouldn't be here for much longer, so he might as well, “Thievery or treason, depending on how the king’s feeling.”</p>
<p>“Yeeeahh probably going to be treason then, considering I might’ve. Kicked him in the dick.”</p>
<p>He actually let out a startled laugh at <em>that,</em> “You madman!”</p>
<p>“He deserved it!”</p>
<p>“I never said it didn’t.”</p>
<p>They stared at each other before giggling again. “I’m Ryuji, by the way.”</p>
<p>Ryuji, huh? “...Akira.”</p>
<p>“What can you do, being put in a blackstone cell and all?”</p>
<p>Blackstone was a material that magic simply couldn’t affect, no matter the strength of the spell. Pretty useful for prison cells, as you can tell. </p>
<p>“Shadow magic,” He made a small sphere made out of “solid” shadows between his hands, manipulating it to twist, grow, and shrink, “Obviously there’s more than just that, but there’s not much I can demonstrate with blackstone touching the more...movable shadows.”</p>
<p>“Dude, that's awesome! I just got some dinky little lightning bolts,” Ryuji’s hands lit up with yellow sparks dancing between them.</p>
<p>“Easier for combat than what I’ve got, at least. Probably could’ve gotten away if I had more than just shadows to help me.”</p>
<p>“Why’s that? From what I hear, shadow magic’s pretty versatile and strong.”</p>
<p>“Yes, but it’s also unstable. People who can use shadow magic usually on one thing, and train to be practically unstoppable in that field. That’s because shadow magic can corrupt, making the caster one of them.”</p>
<p>“For real? That’s <em>creepy,</em> dude!”</p>
<p>He snorted, and they settled into a comfortable silence after that.</p>
<p>Or at least, it would’ve been comfortable if he wasn’t used to near-constant chatter at the back of his mind. As he said, the corrupted became part of the shadows, mind and all. And within this blackstone prison, he couldn’t hear the friendly voices of the shadows talking with him, and it put him on edge more than he already was.</p>
<p>“Well, well! Looks like the end of your lives is near. Why don't we get on that, then?” </p>
<p>His head snapped up from where he had been staring at the ground, glaring at the king that was standing outside the cell. </p>
<p>He and Ryuji stood up, tense at the presence and not-so-ominous words of their captor.</p>
<p>A guard unlocked and opened the cell door-</p>
<p>Oh. </p>
<p>Oh, what a great mistake that was.</p>
<p>He could hear the shadows on the other side calling to him, worry in their many voices, telling him to run. So he grabbed the back of Ryuji’s prison garb and waited for the king to step into the cell.</p>
<p>When he did, he ran forward, faster than the guards expected out of the twig he was, and reached towards the largest shadow close to him, and merged with it, Ryuji in tow. (Who was definitely not screaming a little).</p>
<p>After a quick pit stop to grab their stuff and free a totally-not-a-cat-demon-thing (he trusted where the shadows told him to go) they were out.</p>
<p>They were out, and ready to wreak even more havoc.</p>
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